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Wells Fargo Home Mortgage's Troubling Record

Area's Largest Home Lender Should Invest in Our Community

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

While thousands have lost their homes in Minneapolis alone in the last few years, Wells Fargo has made billions in profits.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage


As the largest financial institution and second largest employer in Minnesota, Wells Fargo has a responsibility to invest in our community by encouraging stable homeownership and creating good jobs.

Wells Fargo is the largest home mortgage lender in the area - with 15% of the market, they are twice as big as the next largest lender - and there are some troubling trends in their lending practices:
  • Wells Fargo makes up 15% of the low-income mortgage market and 16% of the minority market in the Twin Cities.
  • Minorities and low-income people in the Twin Cities were almost twice as likely to receive a loan from Wells Fargo Financial, where more subprime loans are issued, than by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
  • Wells Fargo was sued by the City of Baltimore for targeting minorities with subprime loans.
  • Wells Fargo and other subprime lenders were also sued by the City of Cleveland for the public nuisance created by the wave of foreclosures.
  • The Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are exploring options for action against Wells Fargo and other subprime lenders for discriminatory lending practices.


A recent study of ten major metropolitan areas in the country found that:

  • Wells Fargo is 10 times more likely to give high interest rate loans to African Americans than to white people. The next closest bank, Washington Mutual, was 4 times more likely.
  • Wells Fargo is 3.3 times more likely to give high interest rate loans to Latinos than to white people.


As a union of predominantly low-wage people of color, SEIU Local 26 has a direct interest in ensuring that we can continue to afford housing for our families in the Twin Cities. We also want Wells Fargo to be a responsible employer and support good jobs that can raise a family and allow for homeownership. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo has established a troubling record of attacking workers' rights here in the Twin Cities in addition to their troubling mortgage practices.

SEIU Local 26 calls on Wells Fargo to stop their attacks on working families and act as a leader in our community.



Federal Government Finds Merit in Charges of Illegal Firing at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Earlier this summer, we wrote about Richard Dieterle, a Wackenhut security officer at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Minneapolis. He went to discuss improvements with Wackenhut because the officers at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage were concerned about their poverty wages and poor treatment, and an overwhelming majority of them had signed authorization cards to form a union. Instead of beginning a dialogue or recognizing their union like a responsible contractor, Wackenhut fired Richard.

The National Labor Relations Board found merit in charges that Richard’s firing was illegal, and approved a settlement under which Wackenhut must now pay Richard nearly $7000 in back wages to make him whole. Additionally, Wackenhut must post a notice for 60 days in which they outline their employees’ right to form a union.

A few weeks ago, over 40 security officers and community supporters rallied outside Wells Fargo in Minneapolis:



They gathered to call on Wells Fargo to do the right thing by using responsible security contractors and by playing a positive role in the mortgage crisis that has hit Twin Cities neighborhoods.

Want to help? Call Cheryl Howard of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage at 515-213-7502 and tell her that Wells Fargo should use responsible private security companies that follow the law and respect their employees’ rights.

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